I was cleaning out the dresser that we use as a buffet in the dining room (the drawers are neatly stuffed with wrapping paper, pencils and other supplies, batteries, my crocheting stuff, etc.) when I came across a pleasant surprise. Underneath the empty picture frames and in between sketchpads was Kyle's novel! It was so inconspicuous-looking in a black binder with his name written in marker across the front, and I almost threw the binder on the "unnecessary" pile of his stuff that would have just gotten stacked on his side of the bed (with a reminder before bed that it wasn't allowed to be stuck anywhere randomly again and must be put away correctly before he's even allowed to pull back the blanket).
I was shocked to see it again. You see, the novel was one of the ways Kyle got me to get so involved with him--he'd say, "Meg, I need a beta and I really respect your opinion!" For those of you who don't know what that is, it means that when someone's a writer, they need someone to do a second reading of their work--catch any loopholes, flaws, or make sure the characters don't act out in a way that's uncharacteristic of how the writer's built them thus far. This person is called a beta (which denotes the second in something). I'm sure not every writer needs them. But I know the good ones do. Orson Scott Card's beta is his wife. J.K. Rowling has hired someone to be her beta (this is because her work is so big and popular and she's actually only reread her books a few times that it's easy to forget what she's made a character say or do, so someone is actually hired to just continually read her books to catch any discrepancies before the new ones were published).
Anyway, Kyle would ask me to read his book a chapter at a time--he was working on it steadily then--and use what skills I developed in classes from analyzing literature (English majors do too much of this, I think) and characters to help him. I also fixed his grammar, which he didn't particularly ask for, but I did anyway. I remember reading a chapter at a time and feeling like I was getting to know him better because of his character construction (he based them on real people, or at least parts of them). It was interesting to see things how he saw them.
Then we began dating. We were occupied doing different things over the year(s). School consumed us both. Then work. Then the wedding. I haven't heard about his novel lately, although I've read plenty of short stories and flashes. He keeps getting better and better the longer he's in school--one of his professors from last semester wrote to him expressing hope that he'd attempt to publish some of his stories from class, but as far as I know, he hasn't. It makes me a little sad.
I mentioned the other day that he should work on his writing more often when he's not working or doing school work. I want to help him get excited about editing (and re-editing) so he can get a short story published instead of just poetry here and there. He's got plenty of material...just hasn't entered them in very many places. I worry that I've taken him away from that despite the fact that I support his writing more than anyone else ever has. It seems like a two-edged sword.
I think I'll keep his novel out. Maybe after I finish cleaning today (if that EVER happens) and before I make dinner (which promises to be time-consuming tonight because I'm trying something new), I'll beta a few more chapters. And then I'll leave it on the coffee table. And I'll not say anything else about it. The book is good--he just hasn't touched it in about a year and a half. Maybe that'll change now that we're married?
We'll see....
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